Dauntless

It might be tempting to think that the industry is doomed and that no studio will ever be able to ignore the siren song of easy lootbox, but the parade of MMOs and online games that are bucking the trend just keeps coming. The parade now includes Dauntless, which just closed out a Series B investment round. And money helps – but that isn’t the whole story of why. As Phoenix Labs CEO Jesse Houston told GIbiz, who the heck enjoys running a company specializing in squeezing cash out of gamer wallets? “I would rather run a business where we are 100% focused on delivering awesome player experiences and building a game for a community than trying to find the best way to optimize every dime out of them,” he says. Moreover, lockboxes change the way players actually play. “There are some really awesome loot box models that leverage the idea of, ‘I’ve got a couple extra bucks sitting in my pocket. Can I get something cool with it?’ But when you … [Read more...] about Dauntless argues ‘bespoke purchases’ are replacing the lockbox model

The free to play Monster Hunter esque online game Dauntless is set to begin its open beta on May 24th and with the open beta comes the game's free to play launch. Prior to open beta, players needed to purchase a founders pack to gain access to the game, which kept many people from trying out Dauntless. Phoenix Labs, the company behind the game, also announced that over 700,000 players have already signed up to participate in open beta. Time will tell whether Dauntless will succeed or not. On the positive side, it's truly a unique free to play experience, as there aren't any other Monster Hunter like games for free on PC. On the flip side, when I last played Dauntless, it seemed a bit content lite. Still, I remain cautiously optimistic about this one. After all, the core action combat is actually pretty fun and taking down giant bosses feels quite rewarding. FacebookTwitterReddit Related … [Read more...] about Dauntless Open Beta Begins May 24th, Will Finally Be Free to Play

Phoenix Labs, the studio behind co-op action RPG Dauntless, announced that the game will enter Open Beta testing on May 24. Over 100,000 players have taken part in the game's ongoing Closed Beta and 700,000 have signed up for the upcoming open beta. Dauntless is heavily inspired by Capcom's Monster Hunter franchise and will beat the PC version of Monster Hunter World to market by several months. While Dauntless requires a Founder's Pack purchase to try in Closed Beta, the game will be free to play upon release. The F2P model combined with the game's PC-first development should help it stand out against its much larger competition later this year. The core gameplay loop in Dauntless involves forming parties with other players and hunting large monsters for various animal parts with which to craft new gear. Each fight takes around 20 minutes (or more) and requires precise timing for both landing hits and dodging enemy attacks. Founder's Packs are available for $40-$100 for those who … [Read more...] about Dauntless Open Beta Begins May 24

Dauntless is a game in which fleshy mortals willingly attack beasts twenty times their size, so this is not a title that deals in hesitant and half-hearted moves. In that spirit, the multiplayer behemoth battler has had enough of the protection of closed beta and will be dashing into its open beta phase next month on May 24th. When the free-to-play open beta hits at the end of next month, it will include regular content updates and endgame activities. A cosmetic shop will be active to sell vanity items, and there will be no lootboxes in the game proper. The founder’s program will be ending on May 23rd, so if you want to secure one of those packages, you now have a deadline. The closed beta phase started back in September 2017 and enjoyed a good measure of popularity, with over 100,000 players testing Dauntless to date. The studio said that an additional 700,000 gamers have lined up for the open beta experience. Source: Press releaseSHARE THIS ARTICLE … [Read more...] about Dauntless charges into open beta on May 24

On a recent post on the official site, developers of Dauntless have revealed their desire to “create a sense of immersion” where the UI plays a part rather than being seen as a separate entity. In addition, the art and design teams are working hard to keep a minimalist, yet robust UI available for both PC players and console players. The idea is to make the PC UI make sure that “the things that Slayers will do the most are optimized to be at your fingertips the moment you open your menu”. The post also states that consoles will have full controller support for Open Beta. “This means that you’ll be able to use your gamepad for everything in the game that isn’t text-input or store related.” Other UI topics the team has addressed are: customization and cosmetics color blind friendly buff and debuff icons transmog quick crafting rebindable keys For more information, please click here. … [Read more...] about Dauntless: Developer Plans for UI Improvements